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will be held responsible for the content of any message.

By agreeing to these rules, you warrant that you will not post any messages that are obscene, vulgar,
sexually-oriented, hateful, threatening, or otherwise violative of any laws.

The owners of Pet forum for dogs cats and humans - Pets.ca reserve the right to remove, edit, move or close any thread for any reason.

The owners of the
Pets.ca bulletin board have the right to ban any user for any reason.

Pets.ca forum
rules

1 - Who is welcome

Pets.ca is dedicated
to providing pet information and this moderated board has become
a popular resource for pet lovers worldwide. Users are free to post
questions and answers on a variety of pet related and non pet related
topics in appropriate forums. Most of the common questions that pet
owners have, have been answered by different members many of whom
provide excellent insight and tips based on their experience. Some
of the members that answer questions are experts. Although most questions
are answered regular members, the rare question is answered by a
veterinarian. There are a lot of highly knowledgeable members on
this board that share their information freely. Everyone that has
an interest in pets is welcome on our board so long as they respect
our rules. The main rules are, always be polite, don't try to sell
anything, don't slander anyone, don't dispute the rules. Posting
on our board should be considered a privilege.

2 - Forum rules
and guidelines are not up for debate

Anyone openly debating
the rules or guidelines we have set in place can be removed without
warning. No complaining about the rules either. We have put a lot
of time and effort into making this site run smoothly. Whining and
complaining about the rules detracts from the primary goal of this
board which is helping pet owners and helping pets. The Moderators
that help run this site are very busy volunteers that work for free.
If they ask you to do something do not fight with them, just listen.
If you see your post vanish, live with it. If you see a member get
banned live with it. Do not post about it, do not fight about it.
If you feel a thread or post has broken the rules - PM (Private message)
an Admin or Mod or use the report a bad post icon .
Do not post about it or fight about it as it won't help, it wastes
time and can result in your losing your privileges as well.

3 - Be polite
- No flaming or insults

There is a 100
percent ban on rudeness. Although heated discussions are tolerated,
always be polite. Again if you feel a post has broken this rule,
do not post about it, do not fight about it. PM (Private message)
an Admin or Mod or use the report a bad post icon .
Posting about it or fighting about it won't help, it wastes time
and can result in your losing your privileges as well.

4 - Slander

Slandering any
person or organization in an open forum for any reason is not permitted
and is grounds for immediate banning by the Admins or Mods. For the purposes of posting
in THIS FORUM, slanderous statements include statements that members feel or 'know' to be true but
have not been proven true or substantiated in a court of law. Please use words like In my opinion
(IMO) - or in my experience when comparing brands of food or talking about products or services that
you arenít happy about. Members are entitled to their opinions - just please back them up. At the end
of the day we WANT the best info out there for visitors. We want to educate current and future
members. What we don't want are lawyer's letters and lawsuits. Both Pets.ca and members of this very
forum have been involved in lawsuits regarding slander and defamation. It sucks for everyone
involved. In terms of our policy, what will get modded or deleted are general statements without
substance. Brand X is pure garbage. Company X doesn't give a crap about animals. Company X poisons
animals. If company X IS poisoning animals - then back it up with something...We are not lawyers so
members may well see examples not covered by this sticky...please just ask if you are concerned about
anything. We are always learning. There will be mistakes - this forum is a work in progress but we
are always here to help

5 - Registration
and posting your email address/telephone number

Each visitor is allowed to register only one user name and can be banned if
this rule is not followed. There is generally no restriction on username choice
unless it appears to have been chosen for promotional reasons or to impede
the running of the board in any way. In rare cases an Admin may notify a user
and change a user's username. If you belong to a rescue organization, or work
in that domain, do not register using a rescue organization name without the
prior approval of a Mod or Admin.

Do not post
your email address or telephone number (unless approved by the Admins
or Mods) as there are security issues, privacy issues and spam issues
all related to the posting of email addresses. Users that need to
be contacted for one reason or another should state that they are
to be contacted by PM. If they have no PM access they need to ask
an Admin or Mod for help. The only exception would be if your pet
is lost and then you can post your email address at your own risk.

6 - Advertising,
self promotion and promotion in general

All bulletin board
posts (which include the signature at the end of the post) are for
purely personal/non-commercial use only. Unless specifically approved
by an Admin, promoting your own, or any other another business,
website or cause either directly or indirectly is not permitted. If you are
in doubt, ask first. Non-profit organizations like charities, shelters
and rescues can obtain special permission but must ask first. Please do not post fund
raisers or petitions without the Admins' prior approval. Please
direct all such inquiries to marko( at )pets.ca

7 - Manipulating
our board

Users attempting
to manipulate this board in any way through unscrupulous posting,
registration, private messaging, or any other techniques deemed
harmful to the board, at the sole discretion of the Admins and/or
Mods will be banned without warning.

8 - Copyright

Pets.ca bulletin
board users and site users agree not to post any material that is protected by copyright,
trademark or other proprietary information without the express permission
of the owner(s) of said copyright, trademark or other proprietary
right. All text posts made by Pets.ca bulletin board users or site users become the
property of Pets.ca and can be used by Pets.ca in any way it sees
fit and without any compensation to the user. In terms of images posted by bulletin board users and Pets.ca site users, the copyright for those images rests with the creator of the images, however you grant Pets.ca a perpetual, worldwide non exclusive license to show and/or modify the images on Pets.ca and in Pets.ca related media. Rest assured that Pets.ca has no interest in selling your images or making money off your images. We just care about the flow of information in bulletin board threads and throughout the Pets.ca website and how it can help future visitors.

9 - Pet emergencies

Please note that
the answers given here ARE NOT meant as a substitute for actually
bringing your pet in for professional medical care or attention by
a qualified animal practitioner. If you have a pet emergency or serious
problem, bring your pet to the veterinarian immediately. Do not waste
precious time by posting life endangering questions on the bulletin
board. These types of questions WILL NOT be answered by our specialists
or other members. If your pet is vomiting, bleeding, has diarrhea,
is not eating or drinking or looks and acts ill...then take that
pet to the vet ASAP.
If your dog is pregnant and is having complications see a vet. For other breeding
queries, please ask either your vet or your mentor breeder.

10 - Our Liability

The answers or
information contained on this site are for informational purposes
only. Under no circumstances shall Pets.ca or any of its associates
be liable for any damages resulting from the use of the Service or
the Information contained therein. By posting on the Pets.ca bulletin
board or by using the information in any way, you agree that under
no circumstances shall Pets.ca or any of its associates, members,
or users be liable for any damages resulting from the use of the
Service or the Information contained therein.

11 - The rules
can be updated at any time

These registration
rules can be modified at any time and without warning, though the
date of the update will be written.
(Last update July 9, 2013)

The pulse
of this forum -
Please read this to get a feel for this Bulletin Board - Some of this information
is already covered in the rules and is repeated here again due to its importance.

- This board is run and
monitored by 2 Administrators (Admins) and a growing number of Moderators
(Mods) who are here to help you and to enforce the rules.

First and foremost this
forum is dedicated to providing useful information to pet owners on all matters
pet related. Everyone is welcome and everyone
is invited to read posts and to post questions and answers. That said, this
board has been up for several years and it has developed a certain pulse.

Most
people on this forum are against declawing cats, and are against banning specific
dog breeds. Most people on this forum are VERY pro spay/neuter, and are against
backyard breeding. Most people on this board will beg, borrow and max out their
credit cards to see a veterinarian when their pets are ill.

That said, all
posts are to be responded to in a polite manner. Please EDUCATE or IGNORE posters
that you don't agree with. Respond with kindness or do not respond at all. Rudeness from newer
or older members will not be tolerated and may result in
the member being removed without warning.

We at Pets.ca subscribe to the philosophy that
all pets MUST be treated ethically and responsibly.
Anyone posting that their pet suffers from any condition that requires immediate veterinary care is
in our opinion an irresponsible pet owner and is ON THE WRONG BULLETIN BOARD.

Do not post questions that
require immediate veterinary care. Instead, pretend that your dog or cat
that is suffering is your mother, father or child. What would you do then?
You would take them to a doctor immediately. If you are reading this and
you are saying to yourself but it's just a dog, a cat a......., then you
are on the wrong board. We are proud that the VAST majority of registered
members SHARE our philosophy. If you are writing about someone else's pet,
still don't post on this site. Tell them to take their pet to a veterinarian.

THE
INTERNET IS NOT THE PLACE TO SEEK EMERGENCY VETERINARY MEDICAL ADVICE.

If your pet is seriously ill, bleeding,
can't move, hasn't pooped or peed in a couple of days, is vomiting, has green
mucus coming out of the nose or eyes, hasn't eaten or drank in a few days, is
pooping blood, is coughing blood, has a bloated tummy, cries when touched or
picked up.....Then please take the poor animal to the VETERINARIAN ASAP.......Do
not waste precious time posting on this or other bulletin boards or chartrooms.
Your pet needs to be seen by a real live veterinarian immediately. Many pets
have died waiting for advice when they should have been at the doctor's office.

Veterinarians on this board only answer a small
number of all questions asked and WILL NOT answer any life threatening questions whatsoever.

If you cannot afford vet care -
Check to see if your vet or another vet can take payments, or check to see
if any
veterinary school or college facility can help. Call your local humane shelter
or a local rescue organization to see if they can help. The SPCA has written this
article that may help you with additional ideas. To avoid getting
yourself in a financial
bind,
pet
insurance
is
a
great
idea.

TROLLING - SPAMMING - SWEARING
- RUDENESS - SELLING etc.

- Anyone posting that
their pet is suffering from a condition that requires emergency medical treatment
is assumed to be trolling. Trolling is when people post messages deliberately
to inflame other users or manipulate the board for their own gain or pleasure.
We will not tolerate this and can and will ban people without warning, and
delete
all
their posts.
- Registering more than one identity
is grounds for banning.
- Swearing
and being deliberately rude to other members is not permitted on this site.
- Slandering any person or organization is not permitted. If you want to
warn people about another person or organization then you may only do
so by private messaging or by emailing those people directly, never in
any open forum.
- Spamming, selling anything of any kind, any type of self-promotion, or linking
to
any
commercial site in your signature is prohibited.

Over 95 percent of the
people that come to this site respect the rules, and we thank all of you.
You have
made this site one of the best pet information sites on the Internet. You
have our thanks and our gratitude. We even apologize for having to write
all of these rules and redundant information. Unfortunately 5 percent of
all our visitors still add up to a lot of wasted time and aggravation.

Since thousands of people come to the boards
daily it is impossible for
us to be on top of all threads AT ALL TIMES.
- If you feel a particular
thread or person has broken the rules, please send the thread URL to
a Mod or the ADMIN by PRIVATE MESSAGE ONLY - NEVER in an open forum.
We will take the appropriate action and we thank you for bringing the
matter to
our attention.

- All
that said, we hope that all of you who are left enjoy your visit and
learn from this site.

Thank you,

The Pets.ca site and bulletin board Administrators/Moderators.

I have read, and agree to abide by the Pets.ca forum rules. Please Note: Everyone is welcome but all members must post politely. If you can't post politely, then this is not the right forum for you. Just as an FYI, most members are VERY pro spay/neuter and 99 percent of members are NOT vets. Promoting your business is not allowed on our forum - Contact the Admin if you wish to advertise.